Oregon Shores, Surfrider Partner for Coastal Beaches Preservation Campaign

Published 9/26/24 at 5:45 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Oregon Coast) – Two environmental juggernauts on the Oregon coast are pairing up together to work on various projects that protect the state's beaches. Surfrider Foundation and Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition (OSCC) are launching their new Oregon Beaches Forever campaign. This statewide effort works to safeguard Oregon's public beaches for future generations and ensure the preservation of the regional coastlines and communities as all are forced to adapt to climate change. (Above: Heavy machinery places riprap on Gleneden Beach in Lincoln County, between Depoe Bay and Lincoln City. Photo by Bob Loewen)

Surfrider's Oregon Regional Manager Kaia Hazard said this will be done through five avenues:

“Advocate for climate adaptation and improved shoreline management in local coastal planning

- Implement 'Nature Based Solution' model projects and policies that promote beach preservation and climate adaptation

- Prevent harmful coastal development that furthers loss of our beaches

- Improve rules for shoreline management and permitting for beachfront structures and shoreline armoring

- Improve policy framework for access to the beach and along the shore.”

Seawall at Fogarty Creek in Lincoln County (near Depoe Bay). Photo by Kevin Herkamp

Phillip Johnson, Shoreline and Land Use Manager for OSCC, said advocating for a different kind of coastal planning comes down to – for example – the work they are currently engaged in with Clatsop County, helping to come up with a process to update their plans on dealing with sea level rise.

“We are urging policies that allow for adaptation to sea level rise and prevent development in risky areas, and which protect public access not only to but along the shore,” Johnson said.

Shoreline armoring is spreading along the Oregon coast, Hazard said, and that's much of what the new initiative is focused on. Rip rap is the placing of large boulders along erosion-prone coastal cliffs and areas. This may solve some issues for the time being but it tends to create more problems down the shoreline, changing currents to start eating away elsewhere nearby.

Riprap around the Shorewood RV Resort in Tillamook County creates an artificial peninsula, blocking public access. Photo by Rena Olson.

There are seawalls being constructed in the region that will be problematic as well.

“Right at this moment, most of the coastal development we are actively opposing is shoreline armoring,” Johnson said. “The only current case involving new development we're fighting (in this case just Oregon Shores) is the proposal for the Nedonna Wave PUD project at the north end of Rockaway Beach, which is in an area vulnerable to tsunamis and soon to king tides, without an adequate escape route, and will harm a wetland and riparian area.”

When it comes to policy frameworks that ensure beach access, Surfrider and OSCC are working closely with Oregon State Parks on how to improve their regulations for shoreline armoring permitting.

“The key consideration is preserving public access along the shore - not allowing riprap or seawalls to become barriers as the sea level rises,” Johnson said. “In the longer term, we will be advocating for a comprehensive policy on coastal development that prevents the loss of beaches.”

The big solutions to all this are more organic, the two groups say.

"An example of a nature-based solution is what is known as a dynamic revetment - cobbles placed on the beach, which absorb wave energy, rather than rigid riprap revetments that starve beaches of their sand supply," Johnson said. "We have advocated for this in recent cases where people have applied to shoreline armoring permits." MORE PHOTOS BELOW

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Erosion at Gleneden Beach

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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